Lot Essay
Other examples of the Madonna and Child which relate to Luca della Robbia's "Madonna Friedrichstein" of 1445/1450 are in a private collection, Florence and in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin. The Berlin example also has the same polychrome trefoil base as the Pope-Hennessy relief. Gentilini suggests a date for these at the end of the 15th century, as the baby's gesture directly reflects the pose of the Infant Bacchus in the antique sculpture of Silenus and Infant Bacchus, which was discovered at the end of that century.